Fiat 500 / Abarth 500 owners on the forum?

[Sae]

Looking to replace my DD with a small (2+1) city runner.
Had a fiat seicento sporting in the past which was fun but iffy, so looking at the abarth 500... looking for owner experiences?

[imp75]

I bought my Mrs one to replace a corsa vxr which was costing a fortune on her 40 mile daily round commute. She loves it apart from total lack of power on a roads, she has gone from a 1.6 turbo to 1.2 na. its as refined as you might need though. Im only 5'9 my head rubs the roof whilst sat in passenger seat.there's no height adjustment on passenger side that I can find. Luckily the car has a big glass roof and when the blind is pulled back its just enough head room. Had it nearly 6 months and running fine. Fuel isn't as great as expected but it does spend 80 percent of its time doing 70mph on the a19. Paint is very thin too. Tech is good though with aux in and usb as standard . Fit and finish are pretty good imo too.

[Bing]

PVR has an Abarth...

[the cueball]

I had one for a while... I've copied some notes on it from another forum, sorry if they don't make much sense:

so some initial thoughts:

Negatives first: the ride is a bit too bouncy for me…. Eh, that is it for now…

other negatives from the owners forum seem to be more about the blue & me system... a few moans about rear shocks, front brakes, and servicing costs, but nothing major.... one odd thing is that it's very hard to jack this car up, even the owners manual says take it to a "Abarth" dealer for that... so maybe something for people to watch out for.........

Positives: it’s fun, nippy, easy to use, cheap, funky and stylish.

Problems with the car: had to replace the front tyres – they were bald after a few runs with me… so my OCD kicked in and I got a set of 4… nearside headlamp is cracked (stone), squeak from the driver’s seat!

A picture to show you how it looks today:











And a first update of running costs:



The above pic is from the "road trip" app... great little thing that let's me keep track of all expenses and running costs of the fleet.....

I have to say though, never in all my days has changing a car over provoked so much negative reaction towards me… it’s very odd….

It’s usually muppets that have never driven one, or worse, the people that actually believe that a car is a status symbol, or a p£nis extension….

The amount of snidy little comments from people has been unreal (and really pathetic)…. I honestly don’t get it….

A few weeks later:

So, I forgot to put my latest update on here (and since I first posted it, I have found answers, to I'll add them as well):

So another quick update... been a few weeks, a few more miles..... ans well maybe the honeymoon is over...

So.... I'm starting to be relly annoyed by a few things.... :wall::wall::wall:

1) My drivers door... no matter how softly I open it, it still ALWAYS bouncies back and hits my leg when I'm trying to get out.
**It seems it is just very, very light...esp compared to an S8**

2) I seem to have a major flat spot just as I pull away, the car just dies.... which means I am now riding the clutch a bit to get her moving...
**Gave the car a real service (see bottom of thread) and this has vanished**

3) When I hit sport mode... as well as the steering getting heavy (good thing) it seems to push the car off to the right... very sharply... I hope it's not the same electric cr@p as with the RX8....
**Dealer seems to think this is just torque steer, but said I should get the tracking etc looked at**

4) I've had to re-set the media player 5 times now within 2 weeks.... keeps freezing (this is a disconect the battery job - very annoying)
**Just a pain! **

5) I think my clutch is going as well - see 2
**No need to ride the clutch, and thank g0d... delaer quote for a new one is £1,000... the whole front end has to come out!!!!!! :wall:**

I think that is all for now....

so, the service.....with these cars, the first service is at 18k... a bit much for me... but OK... and when I bought the car, this had just been done - a bit late at 21,297 miles... but that was OK.. I thought...

When I serviced it yesterday (a real PITA) there is no way that the oil and plugs etc are fresh and less than 1800 miles old... the last owner has been well conned... at all for £386 as well...

and people wonder why I don't trust many garages, or stamped service books... never mind the "experts" at main dealers...

and a few weeks further down the line:

Just a bit of an update today....

New wheels are on, as is the new stubby antenna, 400bhp sticker and I changed the lights to brighter ones too (no photos of that mind you )

So...here we go:

the Stubby



The Sticker:



And the wheels:







And we're done....

[pvr]

I have the convertible.

Re servicing - you need to define to them what the cars need as they don't know. The abartisti forum will give you guidelines for what is required and I have only done that, which is not too bad. It does need it every year though. (about £150 - £200 a shot).

The convertible only came in the DSG type flappy paddle job, which is ok but makes me realise that I am so glad I don't have it in the M.

Noise is great though

First problem now is that the Xenon balancing does not seem to work, I can hardly see with the lights on.

Major headache is the dealer network, my nearest is 1.5 hours drive away ...

[Bing]

Major headache is the dealer network, my nearest is 1.5 hours drive away ...

Ah, but it's close to me which is of course a pleasure for you

[Beedub]

close friend of mine has one and its f***ing fast!!! sounds lovely with the abarth exhaust and tune up kit....

[Sae]

Thanks guys, always impressed with the info from this forum, and thanks for collating your posts cueball... interesting reading

Lovely looking red abarth too, much more charming than the mini. That's the main problem with these little cars, the thought started out as a cheap little DD city runner...

My main concern, when I started looking at the other forums was that fiat/abarth dealers aren't great for service and see if there were any major design flaws - but they've been out a few years now.

I used to have an abarth 600, had it for 5 years and went through as many clutch cables. used to keep spare ones in the boot so the AA man could fit it for me on a call out
It only had 54bhp but it was fun!

What I like about the 500/abarth500 is that they're just happy little cars, never fails to make me smile when I see one...

I can see an abarth test drive on the horizon...

PS. PVR, how did the abarth convertible mechanism hold up to the british weather?

[pvr]

The roof is absolutely fine. It is thicker than the BMW one. No rear view though with the roof down

[Sae]

That's nice, is that the record grey metallic?

[pvr]

Yes, it is.

[a340driver]

This is fantastic, after several months looking around Abarth's have really started to appeal. Currently in negotiations to find - convertible manual (rare) ! Will post any progress!

[pvr]

You have to go very new than as when I ordered mine new, flappy was the only option.

[pvr]

Compared to the Z, it has a few modern options:

- Can open roof and close to about 50 mph
- Blue and Me system, phone pairing and iPhone playing via USB just works.

No sodding satnav possible, real pain as flimpering along is a real nuisance.

[Sae]

Ooh, tan leather, very nice spec indeed

Have had a look at specs and used cars, but can't see a heated seat option, is this not available on the uk abarths?